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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Man guilty of murder in random baseball bat attack
UPDATE: A Travis County jury has found Carlo Ramon Comparan guilty of murder in the June 2007 baseball bat attack of Michael Riojas, state District Judge Julie Kocurek said. The jury deliberated for about four hours. The sentencing phase of the trial will begin this afternoon, Kocurek said. Comparan, 30, faces up to life in prison.
EARLIER:
A Travis County jury began deliberating this morning in the murder case of Carlo Ramon Comparan, accused of randomly attacking a man with a baseball bat as the man walked home from a bar last year.
Michael Riojas, 27, suffered serious brain injury in the June 20, 2007, attack and died of complications from his injury about three months later.
Comparan, 30, pleaded not guilty during the trial in state District Judge Julie Kocurek’s court. His lawyer, Joe James Sawyer, suggested to the jury that a co-defendant, Jose Flores, caused the injuries that killed Riojas.
But prosecutors told the jury the evidence is clear that it was Comparan who used a wooden Louisville Slugger bat to hit Riojas while he walked on the Interstate 35 frontage road. With little physical evidence tying Comparan to the killing, their case was based on the statements of two people with Comparan that night — Flores and Camparan’s girlfriend, Patricia Trevino.
Riojas spent the night drinking with friends at Merkaba Lounge & Grill, on the I-35 south frontage between Wells Branch Parkway and Howard Lane, according to court documents.
He left the bar when it closed about 2 a.m. and while walking to his father’s house nearby he called his girlfriend in California, a police affidavit said.
During that conversation, Riojas’ girlfriend, Shelby Kirby, said she told Riojas that she was afraid that he was alone, prosecutor Karen Sage said during closing arguments.
“Michael tells Shelby … ‘I am not alone,’” Sage recalled. “’There is somebody right there.”
Then, according to Sage, Riojas then said something like “Good day to you, sir.”
At that point Comparan attacked Riojas with the bat, Sage argued.
She noted that Flores, 31, testified he saw one swing. Later, Sage noted, Comparan told Flores that he hit Riojas twice. Flores testified that Comparan was high on cocaine at the time.
At about 7:30 a.m., employees of a nearby business — Andy Howard’s Pest Control — found Riojas. He had removed his T-shirt and used it in an attempt to stop the bleeding from the back of his head.
Flores is also charged with murder but under a deal with prosecutors, his testimony during Comparan’s trial may not be used at his own trial.
The case was cold until October 2007, a month after Riojas died, when Trevino called 311 and reported to have information on Riojas’ death. She eventually told Travis County Sheriff’s Office Detective Scott Crowe that she was with Comparan, her boyfriend, and Flores the night Riojas was attacked, according to a police affidavit.
Trevino told Crowe that after the trio left a pool hall that night, Comparan pulled into a Valero gas station after seeing Riojas walking on the frontage road, according to a police affidavit.
Comparan, who had a baseball bat, and Flores got out and walked towards Riojas, said Trevino, who soon heard Comparan and Flores yelling at Riojas and then heard the sound of a bat striking Riojas, the affidavit said.
Trevino told Crowe that during the drive to Flores’ house after the attack, Comparan stated that he hit Riojas with a bat and then Comparan broke Riojas’ cell phone and threw it out the window.
Trevino was called to testify but told the jury she did not recall much from that night. The jury, though, learned of her previous statements.
During closing arguments, Sage said that taking Riojas’ phone sealed his fate, noting medical testimony that his injury may not have been fatal if medical aide was immediately administered.
“He could have pressed redial and asked Shelby to call 911,” Sage said. “And there would have been an ambulance there in a minute. “
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